Hakuoki Short Stories
by SilverGate555
Summary: Various Hakuoki one shots with different characters! I'll eventually expand this until all of the love interests are covered.


The spring breeze came again. It reminded her of him. It always did.

The cherry blossoms, falling from the trees, tickled her nose. The sweet scent of them absorbed the air around her, and she took a single pink petal and rubbed the soft substance between her fingers. She had a slight lump in her throat as she thought about it all—she couldn't help that reaction, she never could. It still felt so painful and raw. If she shut her eyes, she could imagine him beside her, his deep voice teasing.

_"You really like cherry blossoms that much, huh?"_

_"Yeah. I like them because they remind me of you."_

She blinked, willing away the burning sensation of tears. Those last few months with Hijikata before he died were some of the best days in her life and yet simultaneously, the saddest. Every moment they had each other was full of the knowledge that it could be their last in this world. So many of the people Chizuru had spent four years with were no longer there, and the samurai way of life was dead. Everything they had spent their lives for was gone. But she liked the time she had spent with Hijikata, and she never wanted the time where he was by her side to end.

She walked by the trees, her footsteps crunching the gravel. From the distance, she could find her son also wandering against the spring landscape, peering at the sky. Just looking at him made her smile with tenderness and caused her heart feel tight from the overpowering love she felt for him. She only wished Hijikata was there as well to see their son, this creation of love that they had made together. Their son was so much like him, from his black hair to his strength of personality. Maybe Hijikata didn't really leave her. She still had a piece of him with her, after all this time.

Her son spotted her and he waved, his dark hair rustling in the sudden wind. She gave a wave of her own, and it felt like they were two solitary souls, standing at the edge of the world and watching it all go by.

He looked bashful, then smiled. Cherry blossoms, rippling in the air, brushed against his shoulder. All his life, she'd told him stories about the Shinsengumi. And by that extension...his father. Sometimes, when she told him those stories, she almost felt like she was there again with them in Kyoto. It made the bad times after that feel as though they weren't real, and with her son, it helped the illusion. He wouldn't want to hear about what happened after the trip to Edo and the members were separated, and when they started losing battle after battle. She never told him. He wanted to hear about how they saved her from the Furies and how Okita was the best at sword fighting and especially, about his father, the Demon Commander.

He asked her once if he was like his dad. She tousled his hair playfully.

"A little bit. But you're a little bit like me, too."

She wouldn't admit this to anyone, but she was nervous right after she said that. Who wants to be like her, anyway? She didn't know how to fight that well, she wasn't as heroic as the other members she'd talked about in her stories...

Then he hugged her. Still a young child at the time, he was enveloped in her arms. At once Chizuru became in awe on how much he thought of her, and she thought of herself at his age, placing all her trust into her father. Her father always seemed so perfect to her growing up—but if Chizuru knew anything about her father now, it's that she would never try to emulate him.

Chizuru continued strolling by the grove. How many times had she wandered these same paths with Hijikata? It was impossible to count. They've been out here together on so many occasions, yet at the same time, not enough.

Nagakura was still alive (admittedly, he didn't have that name anymore, but old habits die hard). One time he came over and they talked for a while, mainly reminiscing about the others. It was well into the night before they stopped. It was just so easy to speak with him about everything because he was there along with her for so long. Both of them remembered the battle at Ikeda Inn, and the night Sannan became a Fury, and so many other events. They recalled the fuss about the notice board, and the night of drinking that commenced after it. Nagakura's mouth perked up remembering it. It was one of the last of the good times, they agreed.

Chizuru held tightly to her basket, thinking about it all. When she finally got to where she wanted to be, she placed the flowers down on the ground. Tears stung her eyes, and there was no fighting them now. Instead she allowed them roll off her cheeks. She swallowed, hard.

_I'll always love you._


End file.
